I have no words. Completely dumbstruck. All I want to do is curl into a ball and listen to happy music.

Download: Political Science – Randy Newman (mp3)

American Presidential campaigns always take too long but this one has felt particularly epic and particularly unpleasant too. Now that it’s nearly over I don’t just feel tired of the whole thing but in need of a shower too.

It’s been exhausting living through the year-long, grotesque carnival of lies, ignorance, misogyny, hate, and honest-to-God fascism coming from the belligerent man-child that is Donald Trump, and — when you think there’s a chance he might actually win — deeply demoralizing. He is a toxic stain on all that is good and inspiring about America and I’m not sure it can be cleaned off anytime soon even if Hillary Clinton crushes him at the polls today. The thought of what could happen after the election if he loses is just as troubling and depressing as what has happened during it.

I’ve disliked and even hated some politicians in my time — Reagan, Thatcher, Bush II — but Trump literally scares me. Before the campaign started I thought he was just a big-headed blowhard, but now I know that’s the least of his problems. The man is a sociopath who needs to be kept as far away from the White House as possible. The fact that he’s got so close is an alarm bell for democracy and how the media cover campaigns.

I’ve been so happy that the only President my kids have ever known is a black man, and it would mean just as much if the next one was a woman. Another sad thing about this campaign is that Hillary Clinton becoming the first woman President of the United States hasn’t been talked about enough. The country has a choice today: Going forwards, or back to some repressive dark ages.

Just needed to get that off my chest. Here’s a wonderful 1980 single from one of post-punk’s finest bands.

Download: Politics! – Girls At Our Best (mp3)

Pity the picture quality of this is so crap because it’s glorious. Lightning in a bottle glorious.

I came across this picture online and had to Google “Joanna Lumley + Pink Panther” to discover why she was dressed like that. Turns out she was in Curse of the Pink Panther, one of the misguided ones they made after Peter Sellers died. I haven’t seen it but I imagine it’s terrible. It did give us that picture though.

Some other blogs would have been happy to post “Pretty In Pink” to go with this but not me. I give you a Mud record that isn’t “Tiger Feet” because that’s how I roll.

Download: The Cat Crept In – Mud (mp3)

I think I might have more versions of “Am The Same Girl?” than almost any other song. I have the 1968 original by Barbara Acklin, the instrumental version by Young-Holt Unlimited called “Soulful Strut”, and the covers by Dusty Springfield (my favourite version) and Swing Out Sister which was the biggest hit of them all. According to the Wiki page about the song there are lots more out there too. 

I also have this one by French singer Séverine from 1969. While I don’t think it’s quite as good as any of the above, it’s always a treat to hear a familiar song in a foreign language. It gives you a whole new way of hearing it and pretty much everything sounds better in French.

Download: Je Suis Bien La Meme – Séverine (mp3)

Anna Wise is the vocalist in a band called Sonnymoon but became more widely known (and won a Grammy) for singing on Kendrick Lamar’s last couple of albums.

Her first solo release, a mini-album (or is it a long EP?) called The Feminine: Act I, is a concept record about misogyny and gender inequality that’s fun and danceable thanks to terrific electronic pop-R&B tunes like the above. Listen to the whole thing here.

I watched the terrific documentary What Happened, Miss Simone? on Netflix last week and it reminded me what a riveting live performer she was. That voice of hers was spellbinding even when she was in one of her dark moods and spent more time berating the audience than singing. I wonder how she would have handled a modern audience taking photos and videos with their phones while she was performing.

The World’s Famous Supreme Team are, um, world famous for bringing Hip-Hop culture and scratching to the masses for the first time with Malcolm McLaren on “Buffalo Gals” in 1982. 

Their 1984 single “Hey DJ” sounds like another stab at mainstream success with its glossy production by Stephen Hague who’d go on to work with New Order and Pet Shop Boys. It wasn’t a hit though which is a surprise as it’s catchy as hell and has a good groove.

Download: Hey DJ (Extended version) – The World’s Famous Supreme Team (mp3)

Photo by Jamel Shabazz from the book Back In The Days.